The Indians lost 4-1 to the Twins and Johan Santana last night, ending the team’s six-game winning streak. Santana hasn’t lost at the Dome since August. On August 6, 2005, going 12-0 in his last 19 home starts, he also increased his mark to 18-1 with a 1.80 ERA and 174 strikeouts on August 21 since 2002. With Cleveland’s loss, the The Dodgers’ six-game winning streak is now the longest active streak in the majors.

My free game is on the StL Cardinals over Cin Reds at 8:10 ET. Join me tonight for one of my exclusive Las Vegas Insiders on MLB, on a 4-0 skid since Aug. 5. I also feature a Technical Insider, a total game backed by two seasonal trends that have combined to win 71 percent of the time.

The Dodgers have won 17 of their last 18 games. The last National League team to win 17 of 18 games was the 1986 Mets. The Dodgers had won 17 of 18 just once before, in May/June 1899, when the team was known as the Superbas. The Twins won 17 of 18 games earlier this season, making it the first time since 1988 that two major league teams had such a streak in the same season as the Red Sox and A’s did.

Two major league games lasted 18 innings on Tuesday. The Cubs defeated the Astros, 8-6, while the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies, 2-1. It was the first time in major league history that two games of at least 18 innings were played on the same day. Colorado has become the biggest ‘under’ team in the MLB as they possess the second best team ERA in the MLB (4.06) and have seen their games drop to a rate of 68-44-7!

The A’s trail just behind the Dodgers with five straight wins after beating the Mariners 11-2. That makes it 14 straight wins over Seattle this year, one win short of the longest streak against a division opponent since 1969 and the start of division play (the Braves won 15 straight against the Padres in 1974). The A’s will have a chance to tie the record tonight when they host the Mariners at 10:05 ET.

The Devil Rays returned home last night but lost to the Blue Jays 4-3, extending MLB’s longest active losing streak to seven in a row. Roy Halladay earned the win for Toronto and is the first pitcher to 15 wins this season. He was also the first to 15 wins in 2003. The only other pitchers to go first to 15 more than once during the expansion era were Sandy Koufax, four times (1963-1966), Roger Clemens, in three different decades (1986, 1997, 2001), Steve Carlton (1980 and 1982) and Joaquín Andújar (1984-1985).

The Mariners trail just behind the D-Rays with five straight losses, but the Royals saw their five-game losing streak end last night with a 4-2 victory over the White Sox. Wednesday’s calendar is once again full with the 30 teams in action (15 games). There are three-day games with the Dodgers hosting the Marlins at 3:10 ET that offer an interesting story. LA has won 17 of 18 but is only a $1.15 starting favorite. Florida’s starter today is NL ERA leader Josh Johnson (2.69 ERA), but still?

The Tigers and Red Sox wrap up their three-game series tonight in Boston at 7:05 ET on ESPN. Detroit has won the first two games, but the last time it swept a series was at Fenway in 1983. Justin Verlander is going for Detroit and while he’s 0-3 against the White Sox this year with a 9.88 ERA, he’s 14. -2 against the rest of MLB, posting a 2.20 ERA (it’s his first start against Boston).

The Red Sox counter to David Wells, who has looked good in his last two outings, allowing just two ERs in 13 innings. Those games, however, were against Tampa Bay and Baltimore, not the 78-41 Tigers who also own the best record in MLB this year against lefties, 28-11.

The Reds are in St. Louis tonight to face the Cardinals (8:10 ET) and Cincinnati’s Bronson Arroyo (9-8, 3.54) will face Anthony Reyes (4-5, 4.26). Arroyo, who lost to Reyes and the Cardenales last Thursday, allowed a season-high tying three home runs while missing for the 10th time in reaching 10 wins.

Acquired from Boston during spring training for outfielder Wily Mo Pena, the right-hander won his first five decisions and went 9-3 with a 2.47 ERA after a complete-game victory over the New York Mets on June 19. . Since then, he’s 0-5 with a 5.29 ERA and has been tagged for 16 home runs in 64.2 innings. He had allowed just 10 in 105 2-3 innings before that. Maybe 11 is his lucky number?

CFB Notes

If you thought 28 bowl games was too many in the last two years, there are 32 bowl games scheduled for the 2006-07 CFB season. New this year are the Birmingham Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl (both on December 23), the International Bowl (from Toronto on January 6) plus the BCS Championship Game (January 8). This year’s game will be played at the site of the Fiesta Bowl, the new stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego), in just its second year, kicks off bowl season on December 19. The New Orleans Bowl, the first bowl since its inception in 2001, will be the third bowl to be played on December 22. there are seven bowls scheduled before Christmas day but none on Christmas. There will be 14 bowls stuck in the six day period of December 26-31. Six bocce balls will be played on New Year’s Day, including Rosa and Fiesta.

The Orange Bowl is the only bowl game on January 2, the Sugar will be played on January 3, the International Bowl on the 6th, the GMAC Bowl on the 7th, and then the BCS title game on the 8th. ESPN or ESPN2 will carry 21 games with FOX getting five. However, that network gets four BCS bowls, including the championship game, plus the Cotton. ABC (Capital One and the Rose) and CBS (Sun and Gator) get just two each, the same number as, of all things, the NFL Network (Texas and Insight).

Nebraska’s all-time record of 35 consecutive bowl appearances (1969-2003) ended with a 5-6 season in 2004, but the Cornhuskers bowled last year, beating Michigan 32-28 at the Alamo. Bowl. Michigan owns the longest active bowl streak with 31 consecutive appearances (1975-2005). The next two longest streaks belong to Florida State (24 consecutive) and Virginia Tech (13). Tennessee saw its 16-year streak end last year (1989-2004) when it went 5-6.

Coming up this weekend in another special edition of Ness Notes, I take a look at some of CFB’s biggest changes (both good and bad) since 2000, as well as offering insights into some of the potential flops and surprise teams of 2006.

Ness Notes is available Monday through Friday at 1:00 ET.